1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the manufacture of carbon nanomaterials using a reverse microemulsion.
2. The Related Technology
Carbon materials have been used in a variety of fields as high-performance and functional materials. Some carbon materials such as graphite or diamond occur naturally, while others are manufactured. Pyrolysis of organic compounds is one of the most useful methods to prepare carbon materials. For example, carbon materials can be produced by pyrolyzing resorcinol-formaldehyde gel at temperatures above 600° C.
Most carbon materials obtained by pyrolysis of organic compounds at temperatures between 600-1400° C. tend to be amorphous. Amorphous carbon materials are solid forms of carbon in which there is no long-range order in the positions of the atoms. It should be appreciated, however, that most of the atoms in an amorphous carbon material are involved in some sort of secondary or tertiary structure, but there is no regular or discernible structure. As such, amorphous carbon materials tend to have little or no graphitic content.
An example of a typical amorphous carbon material is activated carbon. Activated carbon is generally formed via pyrolysis of organic carbon precursor products in the presence of an activating agent, resulting in a high surface area material useful for water treatment, catalyst supports, separations, etc. Activated carbon typically has a broad pore size range mainly in the microporous range and activated carbon is generally not conductive.
Graphite is characterized by layers formed from sheets on fused hexagonal rings of carbon in the sp2 hybridization state. So-called graphitic nanostructures, which include fallerenes and fullerene-like structures, are characterized, for example, by ball or rod structures made up primarily of sp2 hybridized carbon.
Obtaining highly crystalline or graphitic carbon materials can be very advantageous because of the unique properties exhibited by graphite and graphitic materials.